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From: jdp@caleb.UUCP (Jim Pritchett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech,comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re:  Hard Drives
Message-ID: <9821.AA9821@caleb>
Date: 22 Jul 90 03:21:30 GMT
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.tech,comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Organization: is sometimes desirable
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[]

Since there have been a couple of highly biased anti-Seagate, pro-Quantum
postings, I thought that I would give another view.  (Naturally, I have
no financial interest in either company.)  It is true that there have
been many reports of "stiction" problems with Seagate drives (mostly
among the non-SCSI ST-251 drives.)  However, there are a LOT of Seagate
drives out there!  Even a 0.01% failure rate would produce a significant
number of complaints on the net about Seagates (I am not implying that
the Seagate drives are super reliable, I am just pointing out the fact
that even if they were, we would still 'hear' a lot about the failures.)
There are not nearly as many Quantums 'out there.'  Also, I have heard
a few reports of "stiction" on Quantums also.

I have an 80 Meg Seagate ST-296N.  I have had no problems with it yet.
I think it is past its warrantee now.  This does NOT mean that you won't
have problems with Seagates.  It simply means that the two previous posters
were exaggerating the problems with Seagates.  What they also "forgot"
to mention is the fact that the Seagates are generally cheaper than
the Quantums.  When you buy cheaper equipment, you should expect lower
quality - but this is not always the case.  (e.g. the A2090 hard disk
controller.  I bought it from CBM because I foolishly expected that CBM
would produce the controller closest to the SCSI standards.  Now they've
had TWO different controller designs since then with NO upgrade path for
the poor slobs who bought early!  Now we are hearing rumors that the
newest one still doesn't do everything "right."  As always, caveat emptor!
This is NOT really intended to be a flame against CBM, but it was the first
example that I could think of.  I love my Amiga, but I am less than pleased
with the A2090 although it has run my two HDs flawlessly for a couple of
years.)

Does anyone out there have any approximate numbers for drives 'out there'
for Seagates vs. Quantums?  Just curious...

One poster claimed that Seagate doesn't know anything about 'large' drives.
Well, the largest Quantum that I've heard about is the 105 Meg drive.
Seagate has been making drives that big for some time.  (If Quantum makes
bigger drives, excuse my ignorance and ignore this paragraph.)

Conclusion:  None.  Just get as many facts as you can and then make the
price/performance tradeoff according to your situation.


--

                                                Jim Pritchett


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